One Million Miles of Fun

The Pacific Cup Yacht Club (PCYC) announced this year’s celebration of one million miles of fun racing to Hawaii. Race organizers will be providing a special set of awards to commemorate this milestone.

Published: March, 2006

The Pacific Cup Yacht Club (PCYC) announced this year’s celebration of one million miles of fun racing to Hawaii. Race organizers will be providing a special set of awards to commemorate this milestone.

The West Marine Pacific Cup, the Fun Race to Hawaii, originally ran from San Francisco Bay to Kauai. The race now finishes at the Kaneohe Yacht Club, on the windy northern side of Oahu. The race is open to ocean-capable monohulls and, for the first time in 2006, multihulls.

Since 1980, over 600 boats have entered the race. When the mileage of the finishers was totaled up, race organizers found that around a million miles have been sailed in the event. To commemorate this milestone a Million Mile Trophy will be awarded to the yacht with the best performance on the day the millionth mile is officially sailed. The committee anticipates the official Millionth Mile to be sailed around July 8 or 9, five or six days after the first start of the race on July 3, 2006.

The racer doing the best on each other day will also be recognized. Performance will be calculated by generating a rating-corrected speed from each day’s run.

The official number of miles sailed will be somewhat less than the actual distance totaled by all entrants. The official course distance only considers the Great Circle course to Hawaii, but it is the rare competitor who sails that course. Boats that ignore this rule of thumb may spend a few extra days becalmed in the light winds of the high. Or, as for Ghost, the Morgan 38 skippered by husband and wife team Lou and Kim Ickler, winds may be adequate and the shorter distance provided the edge they needed to win their division in 2004.

The West Marine Pacific Cup currently has over 50 entries; there is plenty of room for more. Enter on-line at the West Marine Pacific Cup web site at www.pacificcup.org.

Also available on the site is the Notice of Race (NOR), the race entry form, entrant inspection information, housing information in the Kaneohe area, and race preparation tips.